Easter in Stockholm

We took off on an overnight cruise for Stockholm from Helsinki at 5 p.m. today.  The ship is like a mini cruise ship complete with restaurants, gambling, kids activities and duty free shopping (not that we're going to stock up on liquor and cigarettes or anything)! 

Helsinki Cathedral in the background.

This is the first "cruise" I've ever taken and for this family who almost always takes a car no matter where we travel, we were pretty easily entertained.

While the boys played Playstation in the mini man cave (thank goodness there were limits to the amount of time they could play).

Lily played in the kiddie playground.

Oh, and Moomin and Little My were on board as well! Is it just me or is "Little My" a little scary in human form? 

More from Stockholm tomorrow.

(Some photos edited with Pioneer Woman's Seventies action.)

I will go to any lengths to...

Sometimes, I get something in my head and I just can't let it go. (Please friends and family, do not fill my inbox with e-mails about what an understatement that is.)

Twenty years ago, when I lived in Costa Rica, I desperately wanted a Christmas tree to celebrate my first Christmas there. It wasn't customary then to have a Christmas tree in most Costa Rican homes. Instead, Ticos decorated their homes with large nativity scenes--usually set up in their living rooms and decorated with live greens, flowers, moss, stones and other natural things.

I remember feeling quite desperate about needing a Christmas tree.

My wonderful neighbors chopped down a very fresh and very large cypress branch which we promptly nailed to the wall in the living room of the family I lived with. I decorated my "tree" with paper snowflakes, popcorn and curled wood shavings and I was able to celebrate Christmas (as if it wouldn't come without a tree)!

This time, I've become possessed about coloring Easter eggs.

I started working on it a few weeks ago.  I asked some Finns how they color eggs.

Boiling onion skins.  (But I wanted more than just one color egg.)

I asked store clerks if they had any kits for coloring Easter eggs.  They directed me to the childrens paints. (But I didn't want to blow the insides out of our eggs.  Hard boiled thank you very much.)

I looked for food colors in the grocery stores.  (But I didn't want to pay $4 a bottle.)

 
I asked my sister to send us a Pass kit from home.  (But I asked her less than a week before Easter.)

I finally decided I was going to have to do it the old fashioned way.  Fruits, vegetables and spices.

I spent 4 hours preparing my dye baths.  And I'm pretty sure I took all of the fun out of coloring Easter eggs with my kids! 

But in the end, we had a dozen beautifully colored eggs.

Let's welcome them one by one. 

MS. PURPLE CABBAGE

and here is...

MS. TURMERIC

Here are the cousins...

MS. YELLOW ONION SKIN

and MS. RED ONION SKIN

let's welcome MS. RED BEET

and finally, winning the coveted crown

MS. BLUEBERRY

Friends, when you dye eggs with your children this Easter, don't take those little McCormick food colors or Pass tablets for granted.  Think of me and make a nice dark red one just for me! 

It's worth mentioning, that in the two days that they have sat in a bowl in the fridge, they have all sort of morphed to the same blah, nondescript color light brown color!

Chocolate

There had to be a post about chocolate at some point! With the Easter bunny coming soon, this seemed as good a time as any!

Every country has its own kind of chocolate. England has Cadbury. Switzerland has Lindt. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not so good! Finland is no exception. Here, the preferred chocolatier is Fazer.

We all have our favorites.

Rob and I love the Geisha hazelnut variety.  Spoiler alert:  friends and family at home will most likely receive a box of this upon our return. 

Sam loves Dumles.  They are a sort of chocolate covered runny caramel.  Remember the candy parade?  That's when we had the opportunity to taste many different kinds of Finnish sweets. 

Joey prefers the fruity, chewy candies Fazer also makes. They make A LOT of candy!

Karl Fazer opened his first cafe in Helsinki over 100 years ago. Today, besides chocolate and other candies, they make bakery products and have a number of restaurants in several different countries. I'm no pulla expert, but they have some of the best in my opinion!

My American friend Stacy introduced me to our newest Fazer favorite.

Meet the Fazer Mignon Easter egg:

Lovely, isn't she? That's a real egg shell, just in case if you are wondering.

And inside that real egg shell is real, solid chocolate. It is so much fun to peel it just as you would peel a hard boiled egg!

I was expecting mediocre chocolate. But actually, it was delicious! (And yes, I shared it with the whole family.)

I hope the Easter bunny brings one for the kids!

Trick or Treat...in April?

Palm Sunday in Finland is a little bit like Halloween in the States. 

Photo from:  http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/

Children dress up like witches and go from door to door carrying pussy willow branches they have decorated with feathers, tissue paper or fluffy little chicks. They knock on a door, give a blessing to the homeowners and receive a candy in return for one of their branches.

While the Finnish children were collecting candy in exchange for their twigs, my kids were participating in a good old fashioned Easter egg hunt with other American children at an event sponsored by the American Womens' Club (AWC) in Finland. Didn't know until just a few weeks ago, that the AWC has clubs all over the world. The ambassador's wife serves as the honorary chair.

We are getting ready to celebrate our Easter in Stockholm!  Can't wait! 

A visitor from home!

It's so much fun to be able to share our experience in Finland with someone from home. Rob's brother Mike (a SERIOUS world traveler who travels 4 months out of the year and has lived in Brazil, Tunisia, and Qatar to name just a few of the places he's been) came for a short visit on his way to visit friends in Italy and Denmark.

We had a blast sharing some of our favorite places in Helsinki and exploring a few new places as well.

And certainly, 4 days just isn't enough to see all of Helsinki, or enough time to share with family.

We stopped at the Kauppahalli for fish soup one day. The Kauppahalli is the long building right behind the water in this photo. It's a marketplace where you can get fish, produce, bread, sweets, reindeer products, souveneirs and my favorite fish SOUP!

So far, fish soup is my favorite Finnish food. It's loaded with salmon chunks, tiny shrimp and mussles. It's super fresh and they serve it with a side of fresh crusty bread with olive oil dipping sauce.

This photo isn't mine, because I was too busy slurping soup to snap a shot, but it looks pretty close to the soup I love.

The kids were really sad to see Uncle Mike leave--especially Lily. It gets pretty lonely during the day in these here parts!

Local architecture

Compared to the rest of Europe, Helsinki is a fairly "young" city.  I knew this before we came here, so I wasn't expecting to see the same kind of really  old architecture you might see in Germany, France or Spain.

We do; however, have many beautiful examples of Jugend (Art Nouveau) architecture in our neighborhood.
As I understand, most of these buildings were constructed from 1890 - 1910.

"A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, Jugend style was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environment." (from Wikipedia)

"In Finland the style evolved and was influenced by a piece of literature called the "Kalevala" and this off-shoot of Jugend became known as "national romanticism". Some say that this style was particularly popular in Finland because it created a diversion from the bleak landscapes."  (from igougo.com)

Disclaimer: I am NOT an architectural historian. I took photos of buildings that I thought were beautiful--they may or may not be Jugend style.

I don't think this staircase is necessarily Jugend style architecture, but I thought it was pretty...

Having a little fun on our "art walk..."

We also live very close to many embassies. Our apartment looks out on the Irish and Italian embassies. This is the Italian Embassy...

My favorite house in Helsinki:

As I was taking this photo, Joey was doing a little bit of peeping through the fence--there was an old lady sweeping behind there. I'm surprised she didn't lecture him as I have had a few lectures from little old Finnish women since arriving here!

Local school...

And lest you think we LIVE in one of these charming Jugend style buildings, here is OUR apartment building.  We live in the first floor apartment with the bay window.